Double delight for Old Silhillians at Land Rover Premiership Rugby Cup

November 10, 2015

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It was a sensational double for Old Silhillians Rugby Club at the weekend as both their under-11 and under-12 sides booked their spots at Twickenham on 28 May as Worcester Warriors hosted their Land Rover Premiership Rugby Club in the shadow of Sixways.

Launched during the 2008-09 season, the Land Rover Premiership Rugby Cup is the first national grassroots tournament officiated by Premiership Rugby and run in conjunction with all 12 Premiership Rugby clubs.

In total, more than 7,000 children will participate over the course of the season as they go in search of a spot in the Land Rover Premiership Rugby Cup Parade of Champions during half-time of the Aviva Premiership Rugby Final at rugby HQ.

There were plenty of potential stars on show on Saturday at Worcester Rugby Club, with 40 different teams taking to the field in under-11s and under-12s tournaments.

And the under-11s Silhillians were in devastating form, looking impressive throughout the group stages before edging out Olney RFC in a tense final.

It was a game where the defenses dominated and neither side were able to breach the deadlock even after extra time – with Silhillians eventually going through on overall tries scored, leaving George Sugden-Brown ecstatic.

“It feels brilliant,” said the ten-year-old. “We played with our hearts all the way through, played really good rugby and getting it out to the wings.

“It was a fantastic final game – one of the best I have ever been involved in – and they gave us such a good test.

“I think both teams outdid themselves and were the best on the day, but it’s very pleasing to have eventually come out on top.

“My favourite parts of rugby are tackling and passing.

“I think I am one of the leaders of the dressing room and I like to lead by example, but we are all leaders and we have a lot of characters in there which makes it a really good atmosphere because we are all mates.”

Meanwhile, Silhillians under-12s were in similar form, sweeping aside everyone in their path in their four pool matches before beating Stourbridge RFC in their final.

And 11-year-old Callum Webber admitted he could not wait to get back on the Twickenham pitch after the side’s second straight success in the competition.

Webber said: “It feels really good to be going back to Twickenham. The game was really fast-paced and our defence had to be up really fast to stop Stourbridge. Our passing tactics worked too.

“We went to Twickenham last season. It was a great atmosphere as we walked round because there were a lot of people cheering and taking photos.

“I would love to play rugby when I grow up and become like Chris Ashton. He is really fast and scores lots of tries.”

Worcester Warriors were out in force to support the day, with first team squad members Dan Sanderson and Carl Kirwan casting an eye over proceedings.

And Sanderson, who is enjoying his first season of Aviva Premiership Rugby after playing a key role in Worcester’s promotion last term, believes he saw several players with huge potential.

“It was windy with rain hammering down, but all the kids were still smiling and that was great to see,” said Sanderson.

“I was driving in not looking forward to training, but saw these lads and thought how lucky I am to be in the position I’m in.

“There are so many teams here and it’s tournaments like this where you set your love for the game.”

Land Rover is a proud supporter of grassroots rugby and a partner of the Land Rover Premiership Rugby Cup for nearly a decade. Land Rover’s ‘We Deal In Real’ campaign aims to champion grassroots rugby. To find out more about the Land Rover Premiership Rugby Cup, visit premiershiprugby.com/landrovercup. Follow @LandRoverRugby #WeDealInReal